Irrefutable facts that people don't want to hear......

It amazes me the number of people that ask for my professional opinion, and then disagree with me or argue with me about it. What made me think of this was a guy asked me what engine / car combination should he use to try to go 200 mph in the next Silver State Classic. I said the best combo would be a 1982-90 Pontiac Trans-Am with a big-block Chevy in it. I said this for two reasons-# 1-in top-end Bonneville style racing-aerodynamics is just as important as horsepower. The '82-90 T/A has a drag coefficient of .032. If you have one with the "Aero" package-it drops to .028!! That's as low as your going to get in any production vehicle. That's as low as a new Z06 Corvette, or Ferrari F430 or Audi R8. Back in the '90's Gale Banks topped 200 at Bonneville in an '82 Trans-Am. # 2. Horsepower per dollar. Nothing makes more power for less money than a Big-Block Chevy. Yes, a Chrysler Hemi can make as much or more power-but at twice the cost.  This clown started to argue with me. His first argument was if he was going to use a Pontiac he'd use a '70's T/A and a "real" 455 Pontiac. I told him that was very sentimental, but not feasible. I love Pontiacs myself-but this idea won't fly for two reasons. # 1. Aerodynamics. A 70's T/A has a drag coefficient of .048. That's substantially higher than the .028-.032 of the '82-90 model. What that means is the 70's model would need substantially MORE power than the '80's model to go the same speed. It's simple physics. # 2. There's no way your going to build a 455 Pontiac that makes MORE power than a 454 Chevy for the same money. There's no way your going to build a 455 Poncho that makes more power than a 454 Chevy for twice the money. The flaw is in the design. Yes Pontiacs are GREAT street engines. That big, heavy crank is why they often go 150,000 or 200,000 miles on the street without a rebuild. Those medium-sized wedge style heads are why they make such massive torque at low speed. But were talking about a RACING engine. Pontiac heads-because of their design don't flow much over about .480 inch lift. Even the vaunted Ram Air IV heads ( which the aluminum Edelbrocks are patterned after ) don't flow much over abour .550 lift. And the bottom end on Pontiacs doesn't hold up well if you rev them much over 5,800 rpm. On a street car that's no problem. On a racer that's very limiting. By contrast-the big block Chevy bottom end will stand up to sustained 8,000 rpm running if you've got the valvetrain. And even the "standard" oval-port heads will flow with cams up to .700 lift, which you'll need to make the 650+ horsepower your going to need to go 200 mph. Yes it's POSSIBLE to build a 700 hp Pure Pontiac engine-but it would cost double or triple what a 700 hp Rat Motor would cost. Then he started talking about building a '70-74 Challenger with a Hemi in it. "That's a worse Idea than a '70's T/A." I said. "The Challenger is a brick compared to the '70s or '80's T/A". "It's not nearly aerodynamic enough, so you'd need WAY more power to go the same speed." "And,a 426 Crate Hemi costs 15 grand, and only makes 465 hp." "A 572 Chevy costs 15 grand and makes 720 hp." "See the difference?" "A 528 Crate Hemi costs 22 grand and only makes 610 hp-which wouldn't be enough to push a flat-nosed Challenger to 200 mph." "You'd have to hop it up even more to get close to 200." "You'd have 30 grand in the engine alone." "If you built the '82-90 T/A with a Rat motor, you wouldn't have 20 grand in the WHOLE car." "Look in any magazine or Summit catalog-10 grand will buy you a 650 hp Rat motor in any state in the union." "Blueprint Engines, Smeding, and others all offer mega-power Rat engines for under 10K." Then he says-"What about a Fox-bodied Mustang with a 347 stroker and a blower?" I wanted to scream. "If you can't go 200 in a Challenger with a 528 inch Hemi, or a '70s Firebird with a 455, what makes you think you can do it in a "barn-door" 79-93 Mustang with only 347 cubes?" "What math are you doing?" "Thanks for nothing" he sneered and stomped off.  I wanted to slap him. I gave him great advice-but he didn't want to listen to it. He wanted to fantasize. For the record-here's some irrefutable facts that everyone needs to wrap their head around if their going to spend money and time restoring a musclecar. # 1. Like it or not, Chevys rule. Whether it's a '55-57 shoebox, a '67-2002 Camaro, a '64-77 Chevelle, a '70-88 Monte Carlo or a Corvette of any year-there is more body,chassis, interior, trim and speed parts out there for these cars than anything else on the planet. And they cost less than the same parts for a Mopar or Ford, or even other GM lines-Buick, Old or Pontiac. Ditto for the engines. Nothing offers more bang for less bucks than a small-block Chevy. A Rat costs more to buy or build than a small-block-but they still make more power for less money than any other big-block be it a 460 Ford, BOP 455s, or 440 Mopars. I don't care if you don't like it, it's true. The same goes for resale value. A same-year, same condition 396 Chevelle will sell for more money than a same-year GTO or 442. A '68 Camaro will bring more money than a '68 Firebird, even if the Camaro is a 327 small-block and the Firebird is a 400. Watch any Barrett-Jackson auction-except for Hemi Mopars and Shelby Mustangs-the Chevys ALWAYS bring more money than anything else. It's not fair, but that's the marketplace. # 2. You can't swap Ford powertrains around like you can GM or Chrysler stuff. Sorry, blue oval fans, you know it, I know it, that makes it unanimous. While GM and Mopar stuff is the same for many years regardless of model-Fords are an engine swappers nightmare. Every model has different oil pans, different water pumps, different bellhousing bolt-patterns, different accessory brackets, etc, etc. # 3. Sorry AMC lovers-never mind the hated Chevys-you guys don't have 1/10 the aftermarket support of even the Pontiac, Buick, Olds or Mopar guys. And face it-even with Edelbrock Aluminum heads your 360 or 401 AMC engine isn't going to make as much power as a 350 or 383 small-block Chevy, much less a 440 Chrysler or 455 Pontiac. And it's going cost more to build a Rambler than the others too just to add insult to injury. Again-that's the marketplace and reality no prejudices or conspiracys. These facts are irrefutable, so everyone can quit whining about them. Mastermind